WEST SPRINGFIELD – “We’re comin’ to your town, We’ll help you party it down, We’re an American Band.”

The ultimate American rock band – Grand Funk Railroad – makes its first-ever stop in the greater Springfield area next week, opening the Big E with a 7:30 show in the Xfinity Arena on Sept. 15.  

Concert admission is free with your Big E ticket. A limited number of premium tickets are available for purchase at $29 at www.TheBig E.com.

“I‘ve heard about the Big E for years,” Don Brewer, Grand Funk drummer and founding band member told Reminder Publications. “One of our agents brought it up in the past, we’ve been in [Hartford and Indian Ranch, Rhode Island], but we’ve never done that festival.”

Brewer and founding Grand Funk bassist Mel Schacher will be joined onstage that night by singer Max Carl, formerly of 38 Special; lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, who spent 12 years with KISS; and keyboardist Tim Cashion, who’s played stints with Bob Seger and Robert Palmer. Together as Grand Funk Railroad for the past 18 years, Brewer said this band is tight, “going strong,” and looking forward to putting on a rockin’ show for Big E fans of all ages.

“To be out there singing ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ and ‘American Band’ and see little kids and their grandparents singing the words to your songs, it’s amazing,” Brewer said.

Brewer said legacy fans of Grand Funk, which exploded out of Flint, MI, in 1968, should expect to rock out to classic cuts like “Rock & Roll Soul,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “I’m Your Captain,” and “American Band.”

“Then we have some showy tunes, one of them being a drum solo I do,” Brewer said.  The beat also stars in a song called “Thunder & Lightening,” where every member of the band plays percussion “of some kind,” according to Brewer.

The band’s version of “Heartbreaker,” as well as newer material Grand Funk has produced over the past 18 years  – including “Sky High” and “Bottle Rocket” – generally round out the show.

Forty-seven years after Brewer, Schacher and lead singer Mark Farner formed Grand Funk, and nearly 20 years after he and Schacher launched this version of the band after Farmer’s departure, Brewer said being up on stage “never gets old.

“I love watching people up on their feet singing along with ‘We’re An American Band’,” Brewer said. “And people reacting, especially the Vietnam veterans when we play ‘Closer to Home’.”

The band’s wide appeal, Brewer said, comes from the fact Grand Funk’s songs have “stood the test of time.

“They’ve been in commercials and movies and used in a lot of different [places], and continue to get play on classic rock radio and now satellite radio,” Brewer said.

The band’s signature sound, which Brewer calls “a unique combo of R & B and the blues” evolved, he said, from multiple influences, including Motown – which was “just down the road in Detroit” – local bands like Terry Knight and the Pack, some of the masters of jazz, and early metal/blues bands and artists like Cream, Blue Cheer and Jimmy Hendrix.

“We put that together and cranked it up on steroids,” Brewer said.

In turn, he noted Grand Funk has left their mark on musicians that followed.

Notable bands that emulated Grand Funk’s mix of R & B and blues, metal and pop include Foreigner, Journey and Van Halen.

“Even Prince had stated that he was heavily influenced by Grand Funk,” Brewer said. “In his studio in Paisley Park, there were copies of the album covers of Grand Funk on the walls.”

But the road hasn’t always been a smooth one, even for a band considered a rock icon. Brewer said Grand Funk has split up multiple times – disbanding for the first time in 1976, re-forming again from 1981 to ’82, then disbanding again until the reunion tour of 1996 to ’98.

“Mark decided to leave in ’98 and me and Mel [Schacher] went out with this band and we’ve been going strong ever since,” Brewer said, adding the last two years  “have been our best in the past 20.”

When asked about another Grand Funk reunion with Farmer at some point, Brewer said there’s always talk about it, but no solid plan for anytime in the future.

“I always say, ‘never say never’,” he added.

As for the Big E stop, Brewer said Grand Funk is pumped to put on a good show.

“Everybody needs to be ready to smile and be ready to sweat because we’ll be getting you up on your feet and having a good time,’ he said.